EU Statement UN General Assembly, Interactive Dialogue on The Pact for the Future and the UN80 Initiative: From Commitments to Delivery

EU Statement -- UN General Assembly, Interactive Dialogue on The Pact for the Future and the UN80 Initiative: From Commitments to Delivery

24 April 2026, New York -- Statement on behalf of the European Union and its Member States delivered by H.E. Ambassador Hedda Samson, EU Delegation to the UN, at the Interactive Dialogue: The Pact for the Future and the UN80 Initiative -- From Commitments to Delivery

Madam President, Excellencies, Colleagues,

I deliver this statement on behalf of the EU and its member states.

The EU Delegation is pleased to be part of the interactive dialogue on "The Pact for the Future and the UN80 Initiative". We thank the PGA and her team for overseeing both the Pact for the Future Implementation as well as the UN80 Initiative progress, and for hosting this dialogue bringing together the Pact for the Future and the UN80 Initiative.

The Pact for the Future and its annexes provide the political direction for a strengthened multilateral system and are in this sense instrumental in bringing Member States to work in the same substantive direction, while the UN80 Initiative aims to provide the tools and structures to deliver on that shared vision. Basically, the Pact for the Future sets the political direction towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda- the UN80 Initiative represents how to get there.

The mandate review process of WS2 is the critical bridge between both-translating commitments into palpable actions. We should ensure that Pact priorities are systematically reflected in new and renewed mandates. The new discipline on mandate design-clear objectives, timelines, impact on the UN budget and indicators-is a prerequisite to make the Pact deliverable in practice. When mandates come up for negotiation or renewal, Member States should ask a simple question: does this mandate reflect and advance the UN's critical mission and the priorities we agreed together in the Pact?

We strongly support efforts to improve efficiency, coherence, and cost-effectiveness to strengthen the UN as a whole while ensuring all pillars of the Charter are equally preserved. At the same time, efficiency gains should go hand in hand with more impact and tangible results in what the UN was created for: to uphold the enjoyment of human rights, gender equality, peace and security, prevention of conflicts, sustainable development, and ensure the most vulnerable are not left behind., upholding the principle of balance across the three pillars.

We underline that human rights mandates require vigilance in any review or rationalization exercise. Streamlining must not lead to the erosion of human rights mandates. We welcome system-wide efforts to strengthen human rights mainstreaming, including through dedicated coordination structures like the new Human Rights Group.

The interlinkage becomes concrete with SDGs delivery: accelerating progress on the SDGs requires both the political commitment embedded in the Pact and the institutional efficiency that the UN80 Initiative can unlock.

The UN80 work packages embedded in the Action Plan offer concrete opportunities to operationalize Pact commitments, including upholding international (humanitarian) law, strengthened peacebuilding and prevention, improved and more efficient humanitarian-development coordination, and enhanced data and results frameworks. We should ensure that these structures are clearly aligned with Pact follow-up.

We support efforts to strengthen results-based management and system-wide reporting with the aim to increase transparency and accountability. This is also essential to track progress on Pact commitments.

In the context of the critical liquidity crisis, implementation of the Pact requires adequate funding with all members paying their assessed contributions in full and on time. In this regard, as the largest collective donor, we support efforts to strengthen incentives for core and pooled funding, reduce fragmentation, and better align resources with agreed priorities.

As Pact implementation progresses, the linkages we establish with UN80 today will determine the groundwork for the high-level Pact review in 2028. An inclusive, transparent, and responsive reform process - rooted in the Pact's political commitments and international law - is not just good governance. It is the foundation for a credible and future-ready United Nations, one that will maintain the trust of future generations.

The EU continues to advocate for Pact-related language in decisions across all UN Committees and processes, while closely tracking UN80-related efforts and decisions, and ensuring they reflect rather than dilute Pact ambitions.

We encourage the continuation and institutionalization of the PGA's interactive dialogues on Pact implementation, including with civil society.

Finally, let me stress that Member States must remain at the centre of both decision processes.

If aligned effectively, the Pact for the Future and UN80 can together ensure a United Nations that is both more effective and more principled, delivering better results for people everywhere, while upholding its core values.

Thank you.